


(Today is the most exciting day of our lives.)

by softly (alexenglish)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Fae & Fairies, True Love's Kiss, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 05:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11640171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexenglish/pseuds/softly
Summary: Our love is a forest fire and we are the little things that live in the trees.





	(Today is the most exciting day of our lives.)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [1000_directions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000_directions/gifts).



> [a softer world project](http://queerlyalex.tumblr.com/asofterworld)

 

“I’m nervous,” Louis admits to himself, pacing at the edge of the wood. He knows he can do this, but it’s the going and doing that’s difficult. What if she doesn’t care? What if it doesn’t matter? Centuries waiting for the right moment, what if this isn’t it?

“You have to,” Zayn reminds him. He’s sat on Louis’ shoulder, thin wings tickling Louis’ neck. It’s reassuring, in a strange way. Also, Zayn’s voice is very high when Louis is this large. “You have one shot at this.”

“I know,” Louis says. And there’s no turning back now. There’s only one spell that makes Fairies human. One spell and one shot to use it. He’s taken that chance, now it’s up to Fate whether or not it becomes permanent.

“What if you lose Sight?” Zayn asks miserably.

Louis has thought about that. It makes him sick to his stomach when he thinks he might not see Zayn or any of the others anymore. What if he can’t interact with Magic at all? What if the memories fade? Humans are so fragile, so temporary.

“I can do this,” Louis reminds himself. Zayn lifts off his shoulder and hovers close to his cheek, patting it absently. At least Louis thinks he is, he can’t really feel anything.

“You can,” Zayn agrees.

“Give us a nuzzle or something, I can’t feel your tiny hand,” Louis demands. Zayn laughs. It’s high and ridiculous and trilling, but he does as he’s asked and cuddles up to Louis’ face with nearly his whole body.

“I’ll miss you,” he says, and Louis needs to walk away before he cries. Human tears are _huge_ , he doesn’t need that.

“Love you,” Louis replies, tapping Zayn’s tiny head with the tip of his finger. It’s not hard, but Zayn wobbles in the air anyway. Damn the size difference.

It feels so clumsy being so large. Like he’s not sure where to step, or how to hold himself properly. Walking all the time is exhausting. It’s only been a few hours, but he misses the reassuring weight of his wings. There’s a stillness to his body that he doesn’t like now that it’s free of the magic that used to hum under his skin.

He hopes it’s worth it, in the end.

Eleanor’s cottage is at the end of the dale. The same dale Louis’ people use for celebration during Beltane. Which is how he met her, a little drunk off honeysuckle, and dizzy from dancing all night with sweet Niall.

Louis flew off course and landed in Eleanor’s hair. She screamed and swatted at him, thinking he was a bug, but he was charmed.

It was love at first sight.

The kind of Ever After love that doesn’t happen much. Which is why he cashed in his human spell with the Wishing Well and lost his wings. He’s going to… marry her, or whatever it is that humans do.

He’ll settle for a kiss on the mouth. If it’s True Love, his fate as a human will be sealed, and they can go from there. If she wants to.

It’s strange knowing that she might not want to, but being willing to take the chance anyway. He’s proud of himself, he supposes, for being brave. Brave about love. Maybe he’ll write a book.

The chimney is smoking when he gets near her cottage. It smells like something cooking. Food, not a spell. Which means she’s home for the evening. Louis straightens the clothes he stole from the nearest village and smoothes back his hair before walking up to the door.

She frowns at him when she opens it.

“El,” he says, slowly cautiously. She’s just staring at him.

“Who are -- _Louis_?” she asks, mouth dropping open in surprise. He ignores the way his stomach erupts into violent fluttering and flourishes his hands.

“That’s me,” he says.

She’s a bit smaller than him, not by much, but it’s still so strange to him that she is. Her voice is higher too, quicker, now that they’re the same size. It’s easier to take in her details now, instead of having to hover back a few feet to see her in full.

There are flowers braided into her hair, she’s in a green dress that doesn’t fall past her knees, looking every inch the Witch that she is. He can still feel her magic, soft like sighing fog in the air around them.

Louis wants to touch her, hold her properly, but he keeps his hands to himself as she stares at him.

“You’re large,” she says faintly. “You used your spell.”

“I might have,” Louis admits. He looks past her into the cottage. “What are you making? Stew?”

“Ah, yes,” she says, then moves aside for him. “Would you like to come in?”

He grins at her and does just that. “It seems so small,” Louis says. There isn’t much furniture, most of the space is occupied by shelves that hold her spell ingredients, but now that he’s human-sized, it feels very cramped.

“It’s modest,” she says, with a laugh. Her whole face softens as she grins. Louis’ heart pounds.

She serves them up two bowls and breaks off some bread. He used to be able to eat out of one of her spoons and be full, but a whole bowl goes down easy as anything. Being large is a bit inconvenient. Eat more food, take up more space.

The table is small, their feet keep hitting when they move. Eventually Eleanor huffs and tangles their ankles to keep it from happening again. The fluttering in Louis’ tummy gets so much worse.

“So, why?” she gestures at him loosely. Louis takes a deep breath.

“Well,” he says, slowly. It’s difficult to just come out with it, but he supposes he has to. “We’ve known each other for awhile, right? And in that time you’ve been very kind.”

“Fairies are good luck,” she says cheekily, whilst he figures out what to say. Louis laughs and rolls his eyes.

“And you have terrible humor,” he adds.

“Is that supposed to be a good thing?” Eleanor looks unimpressed, but there’s still a teasing smile on her face.

“Hush please, I’m talking,” he says. “Well you know, Fairies are so tiny, their bodies can only hold one emotion.” Eleanor nods. “My emotions as a Fairy were mostly negative. Had this temper, I did, always overwhelmed me. I’d get angry or summat, and it ruined everyone’s day.”

Eleanor’s frowning now. He was never like that around her, for good reason. Whenever he was with her, it was as if those other emotions didn’t exist. Flying beside her as she sought out ingredients. Dozing on her windowsill in the sun as she made bread.

“Being around you makes me calm,” he admits, remembers his mum saying that the first week he had known Eleanor. He didn’t have any sort of blow up for seven whole days. His mum cried from happiness. “Like, that’s the only emotion I can really feel, it’s so big.”

“That’s sweet,” Eleanor says, ducking her head shyly.

“But then, there was a bigger emotion,” Louis admits, feeling himself flush. “Way bigger. A bit too big for me body, maybe. I felt like I needed to be larger to deal with it properly, so here I am.”

“And the emotion?” Eleanor asks, but she’s clever, he reckons she already figured it out.

“Love,” he says. It feels heavy coming out. Not ‘love’, but Love. Weighted in the magical atmosphere of her cottage. The room gets warm as Eleanor’s cheeks go pink.

“Oh,” she says, quietly.

“So I used my spell to tell you that,” Louis says, quickly. Which she knew, since she’s clever. He wonders if she knows that it’ll end at sunset, too. “I hope that’s not terrible.”

“It’s not,” she says quickly. She reaches for him, laces their hands together. He feels the magical buzz back under his skin, but it’s her magic this time, connecting them. “I’d hoped --” she looks at the top of the table, smiling. “I had hoped that’s what you were here for.”

“I’m here for my kiss,” Louis corrects. “If it’s True Love, I get to stay with you.” If not, then he’ll revert immediately, and have to spend the rest of Eleanor’s life as a Fairy. He doesn’t know if he could watch her grow older, knowing that he would lose her so soon.

Time was fickle, he wanted to spent it with her.

She stands and pulls him up with her. When they’re both standing, Louis doesn’t resist the urge to touch this time -- he slides his hands around her waist and holds her. She’s warm and soft and lovely. There’s a wild brightness in her hazel eyes, a sweet sort of mischief.

“Let’s see if I get to keep you,” she whispers, and leans in to kiss him.

**Author's Note:**

> [reblog on tumblr](http://queerlyalex.tumblr.com/post/163537498377/today-is-the-most-exciting-day-of-our-lives)


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